Mnemonics have been used as methods for remembering information that may otherwise be difficult to recall, and is a rehearsal or re-coding strategy and can be used as the basis for grouping the stimulus items to be recalled. Formal mnemonic devices generally rely on a pre-established set of memory aids in addition to some practice on the to-be-remembered information in connection with the pre-established set. The strengths of mnemonic techniques are many and can include: repeating the material to be remembered in a repeated fashion, and integrating the material to be remembered into an existing memory framework.
For most people, it is easier to remember an image or story incorporating words than it is to remember strings of digits. Mnemonics are well known to be used as an aid in memorizing words and numbers. It is over 300 years old and was introduced by Stanislaus Mink von Wennsshein and later developed by Dr Richard Grey. A “Phonetic Mnemonic” is system developed three hundred years ago, in 1648, by Winckelman who introduced a system where digits were represented by letters of the alphabet. In the 18th and 19th century, this memory system was further refined and it has remained essentially unchanged throughout the 20th century.
The key aspect of the phonetic mnemonic is that digits are represented by consonant sounds (the term ‘phonetic’ refers to speech sounds). This allows the fabrication of large numbers of peg words to be used in mental filing systems. It is also possible to code numbers directly into words and sentences. It works by converting numbers into words. The words can then be remembered more easily, especially when using other techniques such as exaggerations of concepts involving multiple senses (vision, sound, smell). Each digit is mapped onto a number of consonants. Vowels and the consonants are ignored and can be used as ‘fillers’ to make up sensible words from the resulting consonant sequences. The mapping is: 0: s,z; 1: d,t,th; 2: n,ing; 3: m, 4: r; 5: 1; 6: j,sh,ch,zh (like the s in vision); 7: k,hard g; 8: f,v; 9: b,p.
It is the sounds that matter, not the spelling. Each digit maps to a set of sounds with similar mouth and tongue positions. For example, to remember the year in which the National Portrait Gallery in London was opened (1856), we first perform the mapping: 1->d, t,th; 8->f,v; 5->1; 6->j,sh,ch,zh. So we can make up ‘DaFfy LoDGe’, and we think of the Portrait Gallery as a lodge in which Daffy Duck resides (the more silly the image, the easier it is to recall). However, the problem with this system is that it takes some people more time to master than the others and is not computer based. This system only converts numerical information to alphabetical information and vice versa. This information does not teach converting a memory list in a customized areas of interest into a mnemonic sentence which can easily be remembered.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,441 issued on Jun. 30, 1998 to Henry Allen Wilson describes a visually reinforced learning and memorization system which combines the coordination of alphabetic mnemonics, number integers, and colors to provide the user with multiple mechanisms for learning memorizing information. The memorization system is particularly suited for memorizing geographic information, using a diamond-based coordinate system. This system does not teach or suggest using customized areas of interest having a list of items that can be remembered by mnemonic sentencing. This system partially integrates the phonetic system similar described above.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,631 issued on Sep. 24, 1985 to Kurosu et al., teaches a text inputting device which includes a keyboard for imputing a string of characters of a first kind by keying keys, and a first device for displaying characters of a second kind corresponding to the character string supplied from the keyboard as candidate characters, and selecting a desired character of the second kind from the candidate characters for supplying it to a processor. A second device is for reading a character of the second kind corresponding to a mnemonic code in the character string supplied from the keyboard for supplying it to the processor. A selection switch is used selectively activating the first or the second device when a character of the second type is to be inputted. This device is specifically used to input complex texts such as Japanese or other language texts. However, this device also does not teach memorizing items of a list in customized selectable interest areas which are to be remembered through mnemonic sentencing.
Other systems have been developed for coordinating letters with numbers and are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,477 to Noyori et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,038 to Larry W. Dennis, U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,636 to Herman Buschke, U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,704 to Seth R. McCloud, U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,375 to Wouter Goede, U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,432 to Marilyn M. Bergman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,306 to Joseph B. Delphonse, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,222 to Mary Beth Guinan.
The systems in the above patents are generally limited to mnemonic aids that are visually based and do not use customized selectable interest areas which are to be remembered through mnemonic sentencing. Many of theses patents do not teach a mnemonic customization tool function that permits the users to replace pieces of an automatically generated, acrostic mnemonic sentence word by word or in its entirety. In addition, none of the above patents describe a custom interest area database that affords users the ability to establish personalized interest areas and content items for those areas in any language the user desires. Furthermore, a mnemonic memorization tool for facilitating, reinforcing, and the recall of mnemonic devices. Customized memory list items are not taught, as well as testing and feedback systems that permits the user to practice the mnemonic and associated customized memory list items to mastery.